Stacking mechanism



Aug. 4,1925.

'1,548,350 E. L. CHARLAND sTAcxING MEGHA'NI'SM Filed Dec. l5.- 1923 gva/vento@ iT EUGENE LCHARLAND.

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Patented Aug. li, 1925.

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l rs1 ha EUGENE L. CHAR-LAND, OF WASI-IINGTON, DISTRICT OF. COLUMEIA, ASSIGNR TO CHARLES E. HUFF, OF VASHNGTO'N, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

STACKNG MECHANISM.

Application led December 15, 1923. Serial No. 680,866.

To all whom t may consom: y

Be it known that l, EUGENE L. CHARLAND, a citizen olf the United States, residing at ldlashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stacking Mechanisms, et which the following is a specification.

rlhis invention relates generally to machines tor treating substantially tlat articles and` delivering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place, but has particular reierence to mechanisms 'for such machines lor stacking the treated articles as they are delivered therefrom. lt has been especially devised for printing ma ehines, to be used when printing envelopes, i'olded papers or other relatively thick articles, many of which can not be stacked one upon another in a vertical pile.

The essential. element among the combination and arrangement et parte constituting the invention is a conveyor which is positioned adjacent the delivery end et the machine to receive the articles delivered by the machine. rlhis conveyor is driven slowly so that the articles are stacked in overlapping relation as they are deposited thereon. f

According to the invention the article stacking mecl'ianism may be constructed as a unit adapted to be detachahly secured to an existing machine and driven in any suitable manner but preferably by the machineitself. 1

y In furtherdescribing the invention hereinafter, reference is made to the accompany-- ing drawing which illustrates an embodiment of the invention. ln this drawing Figure l is a side elevation et a well known type et printing` machine, showing :i stacking mechanism constructed in accordance with all of the principles et the invention 4attached thereto;

Fig. 2 vis an elevational view of the rear side of the attachment;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view ci' the device; and

4 is an end elevation ot the device, showing several ot the parts broken away and in section, and with the stops hereinafter described removed.

ln the drawing above briefly described similar reference characters are used to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter A designating a well known type of printing` machine for printing envelopes, letter heads, bill heads, letters, etc., B the shelt' at the front of the machine from which the articles to be printed are ted into the machine, and C the delivery end et the machine from which the printed articles are delivered. These articles are usually deposited one upon another upon a shelf D arranged at the rear side et' the macnine. rlhis shellc D is hinged at E to the machine and when in use is supported in a horizontal position but when not in use it may be folded or swung downwardly, shown in the drawing. Usually the shell? D is provided with a pair oi spaced longitudinally extending slots F to receive guides ior the articles. Mention is made of this because use is made et these slots in attaching the stacking mechanism to the machine.

The stacking mechanism for the articles delivered by the machine A includes a shel't' l which is adapted to be secured in a substantially horizontal position to the back of thewinachine adjacent the delivery end thereof. llfhile shell l may be secured to the machine in any suitable manner, yet this is preferably done by providing it at its inner edge with a depending attaching plate 2 having bolts 3 extending through one of the slots F in the shelf D of the machine A when the shelf D is in its lowered position.

rlhe she-ltl 1 et the stacking mechanism forms a mountino' and support for an endless conveyor, one ot the stretches of which passes over they shelf. rlhis conveyor preterably consists of a plurality ot spaced tapes 4 which are operated in unison, and preferably these tapes 4 pass around rollers mounted upon'the shelf l. In the present instance there is a roller 5 mounted at each end of the shelf l, and a pair of rollers 6 and 7 mounted in suitable bearings beneath the shelt' l.

The bearings 8 in which the shalt oi the roller G is mounted are constructed so that this roller may be adjusted in order to vary the tension oli' the tapes 4. lt is obvious, however, that other means tor adjusting the tension et the tapes may be provided.

The roller 7 is a drive ro-ller for the tapes 4, and therefore, lined upon its shalt is a worm wheel 9, which is in mesh with a worin .lO having its shalt mounted in suitable bearings. V@ne end of the shaft of the worm-10V projects beyond one end of the shelf 1, where it is provided with a pulley 11 to receive a belt 12, which when the device is attached to the machine A may be passed around a pulley 13 upon the shaft G with which the machine A is'provided for the purpose of operating an automatic feeding mechanism. By this means, whenever the machine A is in operation, the tapes 4; are slowly moved across the delivery end C of the machine A in a. direction substantially at right angles to the direction in which the articles are delivered by the machine.

vThe articles which are delivered by the machine. are deposited upon the slowly moving tapes 4, and are moved to the side thereby, so in order to reduce the friction between the slowly moving articles and the stationary shelf 1, the upper side of the latter is provided with a raised portion 14: over which the tapes Il travel. This portion 14 is somewhat narrower than the length of the articles delivered by the machine, so the ends of the articles project beyond its side edges and do not scrape along the shelf 1. f Y

The shelf 1 is provided with stops 15 and 16 to arrange the articles upon the tapes 4- as they are delivered one after another by theV machine. Both of these stops are adjustably mounted so that their positions may be changed to suit thev size of the articles delivered. The stop 15 is arranged adjacent the outer or rear edge of the shelf 1 opposite the delivery end C of the machine to arrest the movement of the articles as they are thrown by the machine across the tapes Ll. The stop 16 is arranged adjacent the end of the shelf 1 from which the tapes l travel and act-s to arrange one edge of the articles.

Arranged above Vthe tapes 4- is a means to lightly bear upon the articles as they are delivered by the machine, for the purpose of preventing them from rebounding when striking the stop 15. This means is preferably in the form of an arm 17 which is pivoted at one@ end at 18 to a portion of the machine A, the other end of the arm bearing upon the articles. It is obvious that other means for accomplishing this result may be employed.

The usual shelf D of the machine may-be used when letter heads, billheads and other thin articles Y are printed or otherwise treated by the machine A, as approximately live hundred of such articles will readily stack up in a vertical pile on the shelf without tipping over or without forming too high a pile. However, in using the ordinary shelf D when printing or treating envelopes o-r other relatively thick articles,

f much time is lost, because after about seventy-five of such articles have stacked up the pile has to be removed and anew pile started. This has either caused the operator to stop the machine or has made it necessary for the machine to he operated by two per` sons, one to feed it and another to remove the piles.

With the shelf 1 attached to the machine, however, live hundred or more envelopes may be fed to the machine without stopping the same or removing the envelopes from the tapes 4, as the envelopes are stacked in overlapping relation as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, as they are deposited one after another onto the tapes. Furthermore, the ends of the envelopes are arrangedin alinement, so that when the tapes are covered with a pile of the envelopes, they may be quickly and easily scooped up by the operator and placed in a box. Envelopes generally come in boxes of live hundred so that with the stacking mechanism, the printed or treated envelopes do not have to be removed from the tapes 4L until the operator has to replenish his supply to feed to the machine.

.From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying the construction, operation, use and advantages of the invention will be readily understood. It is obvious that the principles of the invention may be embodied in other types of machines besides the one illustrat-` and that the structure ed in the drawing, of the device may be modified in numerous respects without departing from the principles of the invention or sacrificing any of theadvantages thereof. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims which define the novelty in the invention, are not limited to the construction disclosed.

,Vhat is claimed is 1. The combination with 'a machine for treating substantially flat articlesvanddelivering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place and in substantially a horizontal plane, of a substantially horizontal shelf extending across the delivery end of said machine, a conveyor opera-ble over said she-lf to receive the articles delivered by said machine, stops mounted upon said shelf for arranging the articles upon said conveyor as they are deposited thereon by said machine, means above said conveyor to bear upon 'the articles as they are deposited thereon to prevent them from rebounding when striking said stops, and means for moving said conveyor slowly in a direction at right angles to the direction in which the articles are delivered to it by said machine, whereby the articles are stacked in overlapping relation upon said conveyor as they are deposited upon the same.

2. The combination with a machine for drawing, y

treating substantially flat articles and delivering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place and in substantially a horizontal plane, of a substantially horizontal shelf extending across the delivery end of said machine, a conveyor operable over said shelf to receive the articles delivered by said machine, means for slowly moving said-conveyor in a direction at right angles to the direction in which the articles are delivered to it by said machine, a stop mounted upon said shelf adjacent the outer edge thereof and opposite the delivery end of said machine to Vlimit the movement of the articles as they are thrown across said conveyor by said machine, another stop mounted upon said shelf adj acent the end thereof from which said conveyor moves to arrange the articles upon said conveyor, and means above said conveyor to bear upon the articles as they are deposited thereon to prevent them from rebounding when striking said stops, substantially as and'for the purpose set forth. 3.v The combination with a machine for treating substantially fiat articles and delivering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place and in substantially a horizontal plane, said machine being provided at its delivery end with a shelf upon which the treated articles are delivered; of a supporting structure detachably secured to said shelf, a horizontally disposed endless conveyor mounted upon said supporting structure, and means detachably coupled to said machine for slowly moving said conveyor in a direction at right angles to the direction in which the articles are deliveredby said machine.

l. The combination with a machine for treating substantially flat articles and delivering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place, and a shelf hingedly mounted to the side of said machine opposite the delivery end thereof and being foldable downwardly when not in use; of a substantially horizontal shelf detachably secured to said side of said machine when the first named shelf is lowered,

a conveyor operable across the second named shelf to receive the articles delivered by said machine` and means coupled to said machine for slowly moving said conveyor in a direction at right angles to the direction in which the articles are delivered by said machine, whereby the articles are stacked upon said conveyor as they are deposited upon the same.

5. The combination with a machine for treating substantially fiat articles and de' livering the treated articles one after another in substantially the same place, and a shelf hingedly mounted to the side of said machine opposite the delivery end thereof and being foldable downwardly when not in use; of a substantially horizontal shelf detachably secured to the first named shelf when the latter is lowered, a conveyor operable across the second named shelf to receive the articles delivered by said machine, and means coupled to said machine for slowly moving said conveyor in a direction at right angles to the direction in which the articles are delivered by said machine, whereby the articles are stacked upon said conveyor as they are deposited upon the same.

6. An attachment of the class described comprising a horizontally disposed shelf, an upright attaching plate depending from the inner edge of said shelf, said plate be ing provided with means for attachment to an upright support, rollers mounted upon said shelf, an endless conveyor passing around said rollers and having a stretch operable over said shelf, a worm wheel fixed upon the shaft of one of said rollers, a worm supported by said plate and in mesh with said worm wheel, the shaft of said worm being parallel to said plate and having one of its ends projecting beyond one end of the latter, and a pulley fixed upon said end of said shaft to receive a driving belt.

In testimony whereof ture.

I aflix my signa- EUGENE L. CHARLAND. 

